


It's Always Been You

by legojacques (InterruptingDinosaur)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Jack didn't attend Samwell, Jack is out to his team, M/M, Phone Swap AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:44:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6851533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterruptingDinosaur/pseuds/legojacques
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bitty isn’t exactly sure how he ended up with a phone that looks exactly like his but isn’t his.</p><p>The real problem is, he soon finds, the actual owner of the phone who won't stop calling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Always Been You

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by [very-strong-bones](http://very-strong-bones.tumblr.com/) who asked for Zimbits phone swap AU and well... it grew into this.

 

Bitty wasn’t exactly sure how he ended up with a phone that looked exactly like his but wasn’t actually his. He stared at the lock screen (the background was just the words ‘Be Better’ on it) and tried not to freak out too much about who had _his_ phone right now. At least, he reassured himself, it looked like it was just an accident and that no one had deliberately stolen his phone.

 

He tried to mentally retrace where he’d been today. He had been at the mall. They’d driven out to Providence and he’d gone shopping with Lardo because he needed new shorts and she needed more special paint. He remembered pulling out his phone while he waited for Lardo outside of the bathrooms for her, and then they went to the food court.

 

Bitty had headed over the smoothie bar because there had been a guy he’d been eyeing up from behind. Lardo threatened to drive home without him if he didn’t go over there, so he did. Secretly, he’d wanted to see if the guy’s face had been as beautiful as his ass. Bitty was delighted to discover that it was. But, Bitty didn’t quite have the nerve to say anything to him, so he ordered his own smoothie and let the guy go.

 

After that, Bitty and Lardo continued to wander the mall for a while, and Bitty couldn’t remember if he’d checked his phone during that time.

 

They came home hours ago, and it wasn’t until Bitty pulled out his phone to tweet something about how exhausted that he was that he discovered the doppelganger phone. He’d borrowed Lardo’s phone and tried calling his own number, but it went straight to voicemail.

 

He considered his options. Maybe someone had turned the phone into security at the mall. He was about to ask to go ask Lardo for her phone again when, unexpectedly, the phone he was already holding started to ring. Bitty jumped in surprise. It dropped to the floor, and he stared warily at it. The caller display showed an unfamiliar number and he wasn’t sure if he should answer it.

 

Eventually, the phone finally stopped and Bitty sighed in relief. However, it started ringing again five seconds later. Whoever it was kept calling, and by the fifth time, Bitty finally accepted the call.

 

“Hello?” he started slowly.

 

“Who is this,” the voice on the other end demanded. It was an accent that Bitty was unfamiliar with.

 

“Um, Eric. Who is this?”

 

“You have my phone.”

 

“Yeah, I kinda figured.”

 

“Give me my phone back.”

 

“Hey,” Bitty took offense to the tone. The guy on the other end was implying that Bitty deliberately stole the phone. “Watch your tone, sir. I didn’t take your phone on purpose. I’m guessing you have my phone then?”

 

The voice huffed. “If you mean the one with pies on the lock screen, then yes.”

 

Bitty perked up. “Oh good. This is just a simple misunderstanding. Where are you? I’m back on campus now, but I can drive out to the mall tomorrow, that’s where I assume we got mixed up--”

 

“No,” the guy on the other said in a strained voice.

 

“Okay, well then how about the day after. I would prefer tomorrow since I’ve got my Moomaw’s apple crumble recipe on there and I really wanted to make it--”

 

“No, I mean, I’m out of the country. I’m not coming back for another two weeks.”

 

“Oh.” They both fell silent for several moments. “That changes things.”

 

“You think?” the voice said dryly.

 

“What if you sent me my phone?” Bitty suggested. “Mail it to me.”

 

“You want me to send me your phone in the mail?” He sounded dubious.

 

“Yeah, and once I get it, I’ll send yours back to you.”

 

The voice snorted. “What if you get it and decide to keep both phones.”

 

“I wouldn’t do that,” Bitty said indignantly.

 

“You mail mine first.”

 

“Like I’m going to do that after what you said. How do I know _you’re_ not going to keep both?”

 

“You don’t, but I wouldn’t. Keep them, I mean. I just need _my_ phone back. I’m expecting calls this week. _Important_ calls.”

 

Bitty flopped back on his bed and stared at his ceiling, trying to come up with another idea. “Well, unless we come up with another idea, it looks like we have about as much luck as a hog in a slaughter house.”

 

There was a sigh, a deep and mournful one. “Look, we’ll figure something out in the morning. In the meantime, just... don’t answer my calls or say anything stupid.” He hung up before Bitty could even answer or ask what his name was.

\---

 

A phone was ringing somewhere. Bitty blearily grabbed for his phone to check the time, but then remembered it wasn’t actually his phone. The screen was lit up and someone named “Berger” was calling.

 

Bitty deliberated for a moment and considered just letting it ring, but he remembered the guy mentioning that he was expecting important calls, and if it really was important, then Bitty would surely be helping him by passing on the message. 

 

“Hello.”

 

“Zimms, dude, I know you’re gone this week, but hear me out. I just met this really great guy at the bar and he would be perfect for you. So, I’ve already gone ahead and set up a date--”

 

“Woah, stop, stop.” Bitty’s sleepy mind struggled to catch up. “You’ve got the wrong person.”

 

There was a pause before a loud whooping. Bitty actually had to move the phone away from his ear. “Zimms’ getting laid!” Berger was screaming to someone on the other end. “Some guy is answering his phone.” There was a raucous sound of cheering.

 

“No, wait,” Bitty tried.

 

“Tell Zimms never mind. My bad for interrupting.”

 

“No, we weren’t--” The call ended before Bitty could get his words out to explain. He stared at the dark screen of the phone and wondered if this was what the guy --Zimms, apparently-- had meant by not saying anything stupid. Groaning, he flung the covers back over his head again.

 

\---

 

The guy called again the next morning. Zimms, not Berger. It was technically morning, but it was still dark out and Bitty had just fallen back asleep after his 3 am wakeup call from whoever Berger was.

 

“You’re just going to have to answer my calls for me.”

 

“What? Like your secretary?” Bitty sniped before yawning. Who called at five in the morning anyways?

 

“If someone calls, you redirect them to this number. I’ll do the same for you.”

 

“Buddy, my mom is the only one that calls me. Everyone texts these days.”

 

There was a huff of impatience. “I don’t have a better idea. Can you do it or not?”

 

“Fine, fine,” Bitty said as he moved to get a pencil and paper to write down the alternative number.

 

“I’ll call later.”

 

“Looking forward to it,” Bitty grumbled under his breath.

 

\---

 

Bitty escaped the party early. He wasn’t feeling particularly social, and without his phone, he couldn’t take pictures or live-tweet.

 

He went back up to his room and considered working on his history essay, but he didn’t particularly feel like doing that. He was a terrible procrastinator, and even the absence of his phone didn’t change that.

 

He checked his blog and replied to a couple of comments before feeling like he’d run out of things to do. He was almost desperate enough to pick up the Herman Melville reading he was supposed to be do for Monday, but was saved from it when his phone--no, Zimms’s phone-- rang.

 

“Hi!” he said a touch too enthusiastically.

 

“Any calls from today?”

 

“Would it kill you to say ‘hello’ for once?” Bitty rolled his eyes.

 

It had been like this for the last several days, and Bitty learned several details about this mysterious guy. He was brusque, got right to the point, and tended to skip the trivialities of any sort of greeting. He also had a voice comparable to melted butter that made Bitty go soft on the inside. The French-Canadian accent only made it sexier, not that Bitty would ever admit that out loud. (Bitty may have spent hours on Youtube, listening to different accents before he finally identified it.)

 

“Hello,” he said slowly, as if he was unfamiliar with the word. “Any calls?” he asked again.

 

“No, not today.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“No, no, wait,” Bitty exclaimed before the guy could hang up. He wasn’t ready to stop talking yet. The drinks he’d had earlier left him all warm and fuzzy, and the voice on the other end made him feel fluttery, in a good way. “Don’t go yet.” He took a deep breath and searched for something to say to this stranger. “What’s your name?”

 

“What?”

 

“What’s your name? You’ve been calling for almost a week now and I still don’t really know your name.”

 

“Oh.” There was a pause. “It’s Jack.”

 

“Jack,” Bitty repeated delightfully. “How was your day?”

 

“What?”

 

“Is that honestly your reply to everything?” Bitty chirped.

 

“I wasn’t really expecting that.”

 

“What? Being friendly? I’m avoiding people and work right now, so please, I’m dying to know.”

 

There was rustling on the other end, like Jack was shifting on a bed.  “I had lunch with my father today.”

 

“That’s nice. Was it nice? I haven’t seen my dad since the start of the semester.”

 

“It was... good. He,” Jack blew out a breath. “He wants to help and I know he’s trying to be supportive, but every time, I just feel like I’m being smothered.”

 

Bitty hummed in understanding to show he was still listening.

 

Jack continued talking for a few minutes without giving away a lot of details, but then stopped short, as if he was feeling self-conscious of himself. “And you?” he asked cautiously. “How was your day?”

 

“It was alright. My housemates are having a party downstairs but I left early. Just wasn’t in the right mood.”

 

“I know how that feels,” Jack said quietly.

 

“Awkward mostly,” Bitty said. As much as he enjoyed the Haus parties most of the time, there were moments where he still felt like he didn’t quite fit in with them. He didn’t know why he was telling this to a virtual stranger, but he it felt nice to have someone to say it to, someone who wasn’t going to look at him with sad eyes (Lardo) or try to set him up with someone from the swim team (Holster and Ransom).

 

Jack gave a surprised laugh. “Yes,” he agreed. “Very awkward. People tend not to talk to me for very long at parties.”

 

“Golly, I’m surprised. You’re usually such a great conversationalist,” Bitty chirped.

 

That earned him a chuckle. “I’m better at other things,” Jack said.

 

“Like?”

 

Bitty could almost imagine Jack shrugging even though he didn’t even know what he even looked like. “I take pictures sometimes. And, um, hockey.”

 

“Tell me about that.”

 

“Hockey?”

 

“Sure. Why not? I know a little about it. I play on the Samwell hockey team.”

 

“You do?” Jack sounded, not really surprised, but more impressed. “I didn’t know that.”

 

“You didn’t ask,” Bitty reminded.

 

“Oh, right.” He sounded a bit embarrassed, and it only made him seem more endearing to Bitty.

 

They stayed on the line for a little while more. Bitty ended up doing most of the talking while Jack listened. After Bitty hung up, he lighter than he had in days.  

 

\---

 

It, somehow, became a pattern.

 

Jack continued to phone even though he really didn’t need to anymore. He’d already redirected calls on his end and contacted all the people who needed to be in regular communication with him. Nevertheless, Bitty carried that phone around with him all the time even if it was useless unless someone called.

 

And Jack called every day.

 

It was usually in the evenings and they would talk for hours. Jack was a patient listener and he always knew what to say at the right parts of Bitty’s stories. Most nights, the conversations were light, Bitty would chatter away about practice or the strawberry rhubarb pie he was still trying to perfect. Other nights, he found himself telling things to Jack that he couldn’t quite bring himself to talk about with the people in his life. He told Jack about being secretly terrified of being cut from the team and losing his scholarship. Another time, he confessed he didn’t really know how his parents would handle the news if he came out.

 

For some reason, Jack felt safe.

 

Bitty was a bit worried he was being selfish. He was treating Jack like he was his personal therapist, but Bitty tried to return the favour as much as possible. Jack talked, sometimes about how everyone had high expectations of him because of his father or how he felt like he had to work twice as hard to prove his own worth, but there were so many details he left out. Bitty still had no idea what Jack did for a living, but he never pressed for more than he was given.

 

Still, to know so many secrets about someone’s life felt… intimate.

 

Bitty known, realistically, that this couldn’t go on forever. At some point, they were going to have to swap their phones back, and then…what? Bitty didn’t really know, but he tried to not to think about that.

 

This imaginary romance that Bitty had built in his head would eventually come crashing down.

 

\---

 

On Sunday, Jack didn’t call at all.

 

Bitty started to worry. He tried to reassure himself that Jack was probably busy. It didn’t quite silence the voice in his head that reminded him that he could call his own phone. Maybe Jack would answer it.

 

Except Jack told him he’d turned it off because he was sick of all the notifications beeping at him. Besides, it wasn’t like he had a phone he could use. Jack’s phone was still stubbornly locked and Bitty hadn’t yet managed to hack the passcode yet. He supposed that he could probably borrow Lardo’s phone or use the ancient payphone in the foyer of the dining hall if he was really desperate.

 

Finally, around midnight, the phone finally rang, startling Bitty awake. He tried to ignore the excited flutter when he recognized the number. He cleared his throat of the sleepiness before he answered.

 

“Did I wake you?” Jack sounded a bit hesitant on the other end.

 

Bitty cleared his throat and forced himself to sound extra upbeat. “Nope. Couldn’t sleep.”

 

“Okay. Good.” Jack was silent for a while, and this wasn’t his usual kind of silence. This one felt tenser. “So, I’m flying back tomorrow and I’ll be in Providence by late afternoon.”

 

Bitty sat up so fast in his bed that he felt lightheaded. “Tomorrow?”

 

“Yes,” Jack said slowly before clearing his throat. “I thought we could finally give our phones back to each other and finally sort this mess out”

 

Bitty felt like he was choking, but he eventually managed to say, “Right, okay, yeah, that sounds great.” They agreed on a time and place, and after Jack hung up, Bitty kept the phone pressed to his ear for several minutes, as if Jack’s voice was coming back soon.

 

\---

 

Bitty sat outside of the café in the parked car, debating if it was the nerves in his stomach or if he really was going to throw up. Lardo sat patiently beside him, and he was never more grateful for her presence than at that moment.

 

“You need me to go check him out first and make sure he doesn’t look like a creep?” she offered.

 

Bitty managed a weak laugh, but he unbuckled his seat belt. “Here goes nothing.”

 

“Remember, call me if you need anything. And, if you don’t answer your phone in an hour, I’m calling the cops,” Lardo hollered as he got out.

 

After Lardo pulled away from the curb, he took a fortifying breath and went in. The interior was rustically warm and homey, and while he would have normally taken a moment to appreciate the aesthetic, he was scanning the room for Jack. The café wasn’t too busy, a few tables were occupied, but no one made eye-contact or looked like they were waiting for someone.

 

He felt simultaneous relief and fear seize him. Jack was either late or he wasn’t going to show up. Bitty didn’t know what was worse. He had just sat down at a table when the door opened again and someone else came in.

 

The man had been running. His flannel shirt was rumpled askew, and his dark hair was disheveled. He looked around worriedly, and Bitty already knew who he was searching for, but when the full force of his intense gaze finally settled him, Bitty forgot to breathe.

 

Jack slowly walked up to the opposite side of the table and Bitty quickly stood up from his chair. They stared at each other until Bitty realized he should probably say something. “Hi,” he said because he could barely articulate anything else at this point.

 

“Hi,” Jack said. He looked like he couldn’t quite believe himself. “It’s you.”

 

“It’s me,” Bitty replied. Then, nervously, he added, “I hope that’s okay.”

 

A slow smile spread on Jack’s face. “It’s better than okay.”

 

\---

 

They had different phone cases now.

 

Their phones never got mixed up again, but everything else certainly did. Several of Bitty’s measuring sets and utensils sat in Jack’s cupboards, and more than one article of Jack’s clothing somehow made their way into Bitty’s closet. They’d settled comfortably into each other’s lives, and even a year later, everything felt slightly surreal. But it really was real and Bitty wasn’t dreaming, and some days, he wondered how he ever got so lucky.

 

Their relationship was still mostly long distance. It was hard some days, but with Bitty finishing up at Samwell and Jack being away so much for hockey, they had to make it work. Talking on the phone and Skyping helped ease that distance, but it still didn’t compare to the odd group of days here and there that he got to spend with Jack.

 

\---

 

It was Sunday again.

 

Bitty would have to go back to Samwell tonight, but it was still morning and he was determined to not let the thought of leaving ruin his last few hours with Jack. It was raining out, and Bitty lay still among the warm sheets, listening to cadence of droplets on the window. He felt the warm press of Jack’s body behind his and savoured the familiar weight of the arm that was wrapped loosely just under his ribcage.

 

It wasn’t too long before Jack was awake too. He could feel Jack’s hands slide across the sensitive skin of his hips. Pressing kisses along the column of Bitty’s neck and across his shoulder, Jack murmured sleepily, “Good morning.”

 

Bitty felt a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “Oh, Mr. Zimmermann, I have a feeling it’s about to get better than ‘good’.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream with me on [tumblr.](http://legojacques.tumblr.com/) (It's encouraged, in fact.)


End file.
